Multiple Journalism has started a partnership with Dutch start-up CleenVerify, a company developing technology to help people verify whether photos and videos are real. Its system uses hardware-backed cryptography to digitally sign images and videos at the moment they are captured, creating a verification link that can later be checked in a browser. The start-up says this is designed to address a growing “truth problem” online, where deepfakes, scams and manipulated visual content are becoming harder to distinguish from authentic material.

For journalism, that challenge is urgent. Newsrooms, researchers and the public are increasingly confronted with manipulated visuals, fake profiles and AI-generated media that can be used to mislead audiences, fuel disinformation and undermine confidence in reporting. CleenVerify positions its technology as a way to prove that a photo or video was captured live, remains unaltered and is linked to a device-generated digital fingerprint.

That mission connects closely to the work of Multiple Journalism. Our organisation is committed to strengthening journalism in an age of platform manipulation, algorithmic distortion and synthetic media. By partnering with CleenVerify, we aim to explore how verification technology can support reporters, researchers and storytellers working in high-risk information environments.

This collaboration is rooted in a shared belief: trust in journalism cannot be taken for granted. It must be built, tested and made visible. As visual deception becomes more sophisticated, tools that help verify authenticity are becoming increasingly important for the future of reporting.

Together with CleenVerify, Multiple Journalism will look at how this technology can contribute to more transparent journalistic practices and greater resilience against online deception.